Housing Solutions meets Greeley budget-cut target, but staff warns progress on housing goals will slow

Greeley’s Housing Solutions division met its assigned 17% budget-reduction target, trimming about $168,000 while largely avoiding immediate visible cuts to residents or projects already underway. Staff told the City Council on June 9 that the reductions preserve core housing functions, but will leave the already-small team with less capacity to launch new programs, pursue partnerships and move the city’s broader Housing for All strategy forward as quickly.

The reduction plan includes eliminating one position and cutting the G-HOPE down-payment assistance budget by about 37% to better match actual use. Staff said the program had been budgeted at $120,000 annually, but its highest spending year was just under $75,000, when it recorded 11 closings. The revised budget is about $69,000, which staff said should still cover historical demand.

In the budget presentation, staff said existing programs will remain in place, but the department will shift away from building and expanding housing solutions and more toward maintaining current programs, many of them supported by state and federal money. Staff warned that progress on several Housing for All objectives will likely happen more slowly and remain dependent on outside partnerships, grants and future council investment.

Mayor Dale Hall asked why a Prop 123 application had been pending for two years, and staff said the city had applied for a two-year, $1 million grant for down-payment assistance but did not receive it because another eligible partner serving Greeley won the award. Instead, the city is now planning to work with Impact Development Fund to promote those funds for Greeley residents while continuing to apply for future housing grants.

Hall also questioned why G-HOPE is not used more heavily. Staff said the program is limited by geography and by the size of its assistance awards, which range from $2,000 to $8,000 and help but do not fully close the affordability gap for many buyers. Even so, staff said use of the program has increased since the city created the department, helped by more outreach to real estate and mortgage offices.

Staff also pointed council members to other affordable-housing financing already in motion. Using private-activity bonds and tax-credit tools rather than the general fund, four projects are expected to preserve or create about 500 housing units in Greeley over the next three years, with roughly half new construction and half preserved units.